Best PlacesPinellas County, FL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Pinellas County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Distance to the water drives a lot of the difference between one part and the next. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Pinellas County ranks 693rd of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. The coast is about 6 minutes away. Its strengths are state infrastructure and transit. The cost shows up in summer heat, car insurance costs, and an overheated housing market.
The best neighborhoods in Pinellas County
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
The best areas in Pinellas County
The parts of Pinellas County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Oldsmar, Safety Harbor & East Lake
Tree cover is thicker, fewer homes sit empty, and schools score higher.
Treasure Island & Madeira Beach
More adults hold degrees, though fewer households have young kids.
Clearwater & Palm Harbor
Crime runs lower, though streets are more car-dependent.
Largo & Seminole
Heat risk is higher.
Dunedin & Tarpon Springs
Prices have run up more.
Lealman
It is noisier.
Gulfport, West Lealman & St. Pete Beach
Advertised internet is slower.
St. Petersburg
Biking is better.
Pinellas Park
Homes cost less, though health care is harder to reach.
Pinellas County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 4% of the country and others in the top 2%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Pinellas County's strengths and weaknesses
Pinellas County ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. State infrastructure is the standout, in the top 1% of counties. Transit and biking follow.
The one real hole is summer heat, near the bottom of the country. Car insurance costs and an overheated housing market also cost it ground. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Pinellas County ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 99% of counties
- TransitBetter than 98% of counties
- BikingBetter than 98% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than 97% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than 95% of counties
Where Pinellas County ranks low
- Heat safetyBetter than only 1% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 3% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 8% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 8% of counties
- Cheap childcare$1,048 a month, better than only 14% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Pinellas County
A household needs to earn about $101,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Pinellas County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $80,721, so buying stretches a typical household.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Pinellas County's effective rate of 0.71%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Pinellas County
Pinellas County runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Pinellas County.
Who works in Pinellas County, and how
Work in Pinellas County centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 73%
- Work from home 20%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Pinellas County
Pinellas County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 69% of counties and more parkland per resident than 74% of counties. The coast is about 6 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Pinellas County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Pinellas County growing, and who is moving in?
Pinellas County has grown about 3% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Tampa, FL metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Pinellas County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Pinellas County, month by month
Pinellas County sees roughly 153 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 73, with lows near 52. The comfortable stretch runs November through April.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 73° | 61° | 52° |
| April | 85° | 74° | 65° |
| July | 93° | 84° | 77° |
| October | 87° | 78° | 71° |
Flying in and out of Pinellas County
The nearest airport, St Pete-Clearwater International, is about 2 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Tampa International, about 13 miles away.
The best schools in and around Pinellas County
Schools across Pinellas County average a B, better than 75% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Tarpon Springs Fundamental EleA+ · 92% proficient
- Cypress Woods Elementary SchoolA+ · 84% proficient
- Brooker Creek Elementary SchoolA+ · 84% proficient
Top middle schools
- East Lake Middle School Academy Of EngineeringA+ · 84% proficient
- Clearwater Fundamental Middle SchoolA+ · 81% proficient
- Thurgood Marshall FundamentalA · 66% proficient
Top high schools
- St. Petersburg Collegiate High School North PinellasA+ · 88% proficient
- St. Petersburg Collegiate High SchoolA+ · 83% proficient
- Osceola Fundamental HighA · 72% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Pinellas County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Pinellas County measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Pinellas County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Pinellas County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 73% of counties, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 20% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 93% of counties and health care access beats 62%.
Common questions about living in Pinellas County
Is Pinellas County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Pinellas County ranks 693rd of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on state infrastructure, transit, and biking, and lowest on summer heat and car insurance costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Pinellas County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $389,683. The overall cost of living runs about 6% below the national average. Set against a $80,721 median income, cost of living beats 73% of counties.
Is Pinellas County safe?
Yes, Pinellas County is safer than 64% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $209 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Pinellas County?
July highs average about 93 degrees, and January highs near 73 with lows near 52. That works out to about 153 pleasant days a year, more than 93% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Pinellas County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Oldsmar, Safety Harbor & East Lake, Treasure Island & Madeira Beach, and Clearwater & Palm Harbor. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Pinellas County good for families?
Schools beat 75% of counties, crime safety beats 64%, and childcare runs $1,048 a month.
Is Pinellas County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 73% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 92% of counties. About 20% of workers already work from home.
Compare Pinellas County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Pinellas County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Pinellas County represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Pinellas County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Pinellas County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Pinellas County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Pinellas County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Pinellas County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Pinellas County detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.